A GOOD Samaritan has been praised for saving a woman from a savage assault.

Ian Davison came to the rescue when he spotted the 21-year-old student in the clutches of crazed Andrew Stack.

Without a thought for his own safety he fought off the attacker, saving the woman from a terrifying ordeal.

The woman was walking home from Newcastle Central Station towards Sandyford at around 8.30pm when homeless Stack sprung.

As she waited to cross Portland Road, the 25-year-old thrust his face into hers, saying, “All right love, give us a kiss.”

He grabbed her with both hands and as she struggled to break free, Stack became more and more aggressive.

In a statement read out at Newcastle Crown Court, the victim described her terror.

“The man pushed me against the bus stop, he was grabbing my clothing, he was trying to reveal skin,” she said. “He kept repeating, ‘Give us a kiss’.”

Stack and his victim fell over a low wall into a garden, allowing her to leap out of his grasp. She fled, but he caught her and pinned her against some railings.

“I shouted at him to stop,” she said. “He pushed me forwards into the railings and held me there.

“He tried to put his hand down the front of my jeans but I pushed him away. He was thrusting against me from behind.”

Mr Davison, 21, was walking along Portland Road towards his home in Jesmond Vale after watching the football in town.

He ran to the woman’s rescue, pushing Stack away, then walked the student back home to safety. At the same time, another car with two men had also stopped to help, and a woman living nearby had called police.

Speaking after the hearing Mr Davison, who has now returned home to his native Bangor, Northern Ireland after graduating from Newcastle University with a degree in accounting and finance, said: “I had never been confronted with a situation like that before.

“I just did what anyone would do. I could see that what was happening wasn’t normal so I tried to help.

“But it was lucky enough that I came along when I did, it had been going on for some time and the woman was very upset. I wouldn’t like to think about what could have happened.”

Defending, Paul Caulfield told the court that Stack’s thinking was disordered during the January 16 attack.

“He was becoming increasingly isolated in the community, he had no contact with his family,” he said. “He was not taking his prescription medicine and was deteriorating very badly.”

Judge Guy Whitburn said the ordeal could have ended much more seriously if it wasn’t for the bravery of Mr Davison.

“As a result of your condition and your disordered thinking you approached a lone and vulnerable young student,” he told Stack. “You terrified her.

“Fortunately a good Samaritan came along and intervened, at some risk to himself, and protected her.”

He sentenced Stack to three years behind bars, and placed him on the sex offenders’ register for life. He also ordered £250 to be paid to Mr Davison as a reward.